Prom Dress Diary 2: Buying Materials

As my last 'Prom Dress Diary' post says, I am going to make my dress for prom in June and these are my updates on making it. So, now I have bought most of my fabric and materials to make it so I should be able to start soon!
As I said before, I haven't drawn a definite final design but I now have one which is mostly what I want it to look like but I'm still not too sure of the length. Also, the real thing will have beads and fabric flowers on it but this picture is of my main design.

Because I'm not following any dress patterns, I didn't know exaclty how much fabric to buy so a lot of it was estimating. I think I have bought a bit too much but it's okay because I need some extra fabric to make the fabric flowers from and its always good to have some leftovers just in case I change my design along the way or make any mistakes. And I'll always use the leftover fabric for something else later on anyway!

So this is the fabric that I've bought...

4 yards of emrbroidered tulle ~ £14.34
I got this as a decorative extra to add to my dress, not too sure where I want to put it (maybe around the hem) but I got it cos its pwetty :)
This hasn't actually come in the post yet, but it should do soon!

 Boohoo Crop Top ~ £8.99 (incl. P&P)

 I ordered one of these high neck crop tops from Boohoo.com because this is the shape I want for the top part of my dress and I couldn't find a good pattern, so I got this top to disassemble it and use it as a pattern. I'll probably put it back together and keep it to wear afterwards!

(Boohoo.com Victoria Roll Neck Crop Top)

3 metres Glitter Tulle Netting ~ £10.32
The photo doesn't really show it, but its pale pink netting with sliver glitter all over it and its AMAZEBALLS. This fabric is for the skirt to go over the top to add body to the skirt and just look pretty really. When I ordered it the website called it "bubblegum pink" which made me think it would be a bit too dark but when it came it was really pale pink and just beyond perf! :)

2m pink lace ~ £5.90
This is for the back of the top, so it will just be lace across my back. The lace looks kind of a more intense pink than my other fabric but actually when there is just one layer of it, it is quite light. The lace is a flower print knit which ties in with the fabric flowers I will have on the dress for decoration.

3 metres 100% cotton ~ £12.00

This will make the front of the top and the main skirt under the glitter netting. It is quite pink but in reality its a bit lighter than the picture.

2 metres Plain Pink Tulle Netting ~ £2.60

Not sure if I'll use this or not yet, but I got it in case I need it to add some shape to the skirt underneath the cotton, so it's basically just plain pink netting.

 

Hook and Eyes ~ £0.00 (I already had them)

1 metre Medium Weight  Fusible Interfacing ~ £1.79

5 metres Pink Double Satin 19mm Ribbon ~ 3.28

The hook and eyes are for the top half of my dress, I might put them all along it, depending on how tight and hard to get into it is. But I will definitley have to put one at the back of the high neckline so I can get that on

 properly. Interfacing is used to fabric stiffer. I got some iron on interfacing because I think the cotton will be too flimsy on the top; especially around the neck so I will use this to stiffen it. The ribbon is mainly to make my corsage but I may use it as decoration in other areas.

I will make decorative fabric flowers out of all of the leftover fabrics.

This should be most of the stuff I need, but I also have to get some pink thread and maybe a few more beads. So the total cost for all of this was £59.22 add that total to my total from my last post and the cost so far is....£67.21! As I only have a couple more small things to get, this should be very close to my final cost total to make the dress, unless I find later on that I have to buy something else. The average cost of a prom dress is £244, so making it should end up a lot cheaper, the cost is probably all in the labour. Well, I can start making now! Let's just hope it goes well...

A Dress a Day 4 ~ lace black dress

I think I missed a day, but back to the dress a day! This is my black lace dress, these were really in fashion a couple of years ago which is when I got this in New Look and it was on sale, it had some holes in the lace on the arms but they were easy to fix!

I am wearing it here with my ankle boot heels that are covered in a flowery, kind of lace black fabric as it goes so well with the lace on the dress! 

This is my other 'way to wear' in which I am wearing a black leather bomber jacket and black worker boots, the boots dont actually look that good but hey! A daytime way to wear the black lace dress!

Another Rave About....Lu Lu Guinness Bags!

Okay I am literally IN LOVE with her! Some of her bags are such cool designs, like the ones in the pictures below! They are so creative and such cute ideas....like the one made to look like a radio!
If I could afford them, I would buy all of these bags! Of course her handbags which look like shop windows are beyond snazzy, but its her inventive clutches that I love the most....the ones that look like postcards, dominoes, a fan....and of course my all time favourite from my last blog about Lu Lu Guinness: the London Taxi Clutch bag!
Her plainer bags such as polka dot ones are crafted to perfection and all have great shape and style....and theres always her famous trademark perspex lip clutch bags, which come in soooo many different designs now, its crazy!
Lu Lu Guinness you are such a babe

A Dress a Day 3 ~ Pink Cutout Skater Dress (and owl satchel bag)

Day 3 and it's time for this cutout skater dress....which is probably my favourite dress I own! I really love it...it is quite a casual dress but I love wearing it during the day and just think everything about it is perfect...I love the colour, shape, length, fabric and cutout detail! Ok, I'll stop raving about it now....

OH! But also when I bought it in Topshop, the tag said £55 but when I took it to the till it was £15! So yeah I kinda lush it!

'Mr Fox'

Okaaay, so here is my evening version of the dress! I am wearing it with nude high heels and my hair in a high bun. The bag is one I got for Christmas and there is a picture of it here for you to decide what animal you actaully think it is! I think it looks like an owl...but apparantly it is called a "Mr Fox Bag" and I have had people call it a squirrel and even a chipmunk! So who knows...but it is a very cool bag! I really love it, it is so cute and becuase its plain colours it actually goes with a lot of outfits and is a fun twist on an otherwise plain satchel! I am wearing my brown owl ring with it too, because I think it looks like an owl!

My daytime alternative for this dress is one of my favourite outfits. I have put the dress my H&M brown leather jacket and plain brown satchel, also from H&M (it was £20 and is a really nice shape, and much cheaper than a Cambridge Satchel...although it scracthes easily, there are so many decent satchels in high street shops for under £40) I am also wearing brown brogues from 'Mr Shoes', I think they were £19.99 and I bought them in a lighter colour but used darker brown shoe polish to get them to the colour I wanted them in, which actually worked really well! The socks are from H&M and are pink and sooo similar to the dress fabric, they have striped, almost like ribbed fabric which is just what the dress fabric is like...I was so proud when I found these socks to match it so well! When wearing this I would have brown eyeshadow and light pink lip stick or gloss to stick to brown and pink colours. The picture above shows the cutout detail on the back of the dress which is LUSH, it has a heart cutout and little buttons before the skirt starts which really adds somehting interesting yet simple to the dress. Because of the heart shaped cutout, I often wear a necklace which has a small pink heart-shape pendant on it. <3

Sooooo it's pretty clear how much I love this dress and cutout dresses are so nice and can be really flattering in the right places, especially at the sides of the waist! Skater dresses are always good and I can't wait for warmer weather so I can start wearing this out again!

A Dress a Day 2 ~ Flamingo Dress

This is my second 'Dress a Day' post and today it is about my pink flamingo print dress! I don't actually love this dress but its alright and flamingo print is cool! Its just the shape I'm not sure about...sometimes it kinda looks frumpy! But I'm blogging about all my dresses so this one is going in there anyway!

So this is an idea of how to wear it during the day, I have put it with a pink bag from Next, it matches the dress which is from New Look, as it is also printed with flamingos (yes I have a flamingo print bag to match my flamingo print dress...lets just pretend that's normal...) I am also wearing brown heeled loafers...I brought brown in because of the brown bag straps, and white socks rolled at my ankles. The shoes are from New Look. If I was wearing this out I might wear a brown leather jacket with it.

Like any good Essex girl I have busted out the white stilletos *cringe*....so here I am wearing the dress with strappy white heels which adds formality to the outfit for the evening. As it matches so well I have kept the bag.

Also I would probably wear white pearly jewelery with this to match the white in the clothes!

Oh, and the shoes are from Parmars!

To be honest, I'm pretty proud that I remembered to do this post again today! Two days in and two dresses! OH YES!

A Dress a Day 1 ~ black midi

Because I seem to have quite a lot of dresses I thought I should blog about them all, so from today until I run out of dresses I will post a 'Dress a Day' blog showing a different dress each day (I probably won't remember everyday, but as often as I can!) with a possible way I would wear the dress in the day and in the evening.

I know taking pictures in mirrors is beyond
cringey but the timer on my camera
wasn't going too well!

So for my first post, it is this black midi dress which I got today as my mum got me a dress from New Look for my birthday but it was really similar to a dress I already had so I decided to return it today for one of these midi dresses which I have always liked!

The dress is black, midi length, has full length sleeves and a round neckline. It is really plain but its simplicity means it is a fun base to dress up!

Even though it is just made of a stretch cotton fabric and has a body con fit, I think the dress has a tailored look to it and is a flattering cut for most people! I thought it may end up a little too long on me as I am fairly short but it actually ended up being about right (I am around 5'4) The dress needs to fit well so make sure you get the right size!

So here is two ways I could wear it. The left shows an evening option of velvet black high heels with the dress and my hair down. If I was actually going out I would definitely have some accessories maybe gold jewellery and the black and gold Ted Baker bag which I blogged about previously!

The daytime alternative on the right is a possible way to wear the dress, in which I am wearing it with my hair in a high messy kind of ponytail and with a brown leather jacket and nude ankle boots which have a small heel (I doubt this dress would look good at all with flat shoes!) Again I would definitely have accessories on if I was going out, such as a brown satchel.

Sooooo thats my first Dress a Day blog with one dress, and two ways to wear it! I have a lot of dresses so there should be a lot of posts! :)

The Saturdays: Fashion Fast Forward

The Saturdays girl band quickly went from Fashion Fail to Fashion Forward as they gained fame
These are a few of their transformations from complete FAIL to so FETCH!

In the picture on the left The Saturdays are barley recognisable in their puffy PVC "dresses". Thankfully it was a long time ago now, and their fashion has moved on a lot since! As you can see on the right, they have learnt to co-ordinate as a band so that their colour schemes and general themes of outfits match yet their individual styles come through in the pieces they wear. A BIG improvement!

In trampy ripped skinny jeans and outdated crop tops, their stylist really needed a new day job! But in the more recent photograph on the right, the girl band are doing denim and leather A LOT better! Mollie's skater skirt and crop jumper is really flattering and exactly on trend! Una and Vanessa's leather jackets go great with their outfits, in contrast to the gaudy leather peep hole tops they wore on the left! Again they've stuck to a neutral colour scheme which suits them all and shown individuality

perfectly...and it works! 

A complete fashion fail here in matching glitter bodycon, in gaudy colours makes you wonder if it is the same group as can be seen on the right in cute black outfits accented with bright jewels on their clothes. They have really learnt how to wear sparkly stage outfits but still stay on trend.

The Fail on the left shows The Saturdays dressed in block colour panel knitted dresses and looking complete messes! Their idea of co-ordination really hasn't worked out...but clearly their Fetch transformation on the right shows that they really know how to dress for the red carpet now! They all look amazing in their white dresses, and I particularly like Mollie's sheer floor length dress which suits her perfectly!

Skin tight, satin playsuits really don't work as The Saturdays have shown us here! But summer florals with block colours and matching accessories really do work as the band have obviously realised...

So clearly, The Saturdays Fashion Fast Forward has taken them from Fail to Fetch very well! They obviously now know that there is no need to look like a 90s boy band that've been thrown up on by a bag of skittles!

One of the band members which I think dresses particularly well lately is Mollie who always wears cool and matching outfits that suit her style and shape. As you can see Rochelle also has particularly good style, but in general the whole band now dress really well!

 

 

 

 

Prom Dress Diary 1: Planning

So prom is on 28th June and most people (well....girls) seem to be buying their dresses now, and for a long time I have been thinking about making my own dress but because of all the exams I have at the moment I have considered that i might not have enough spare time. But to be honest I spend most of my time sitting around, watching TV, on twitter and eating Milky Bars anyway so this can't hurt! I decided to stop moaning about it and just make my prom dress....or attempt to anyway! Im gunna go for it!

I have had a design for a dress for a very long time but lately my ideas keep changing. Although I considered a dark blue like navy or midnight blue, one thing that has generally been consistant is that my dress would be pale pink. So I dont have a definite design but I have a few different ones which I will probably combine as I go along to make it. As my year 7 design & technology teacher always said "if you fail to plan then you plan to fail" and I always though "screw that!" I have a general idea in my head of what the dress will look like, and these pictures show you a few general sketches I have done of some ideas but I know I will end up changing it as I go along, so we may as well all just wait and see how it turns out when its done! And lets hope its pretty decent or else I will have to try and buy a dress last minute....that or go to prom naked....awkward!

Louise gave me this idea and I thought it sounded pretty snazzy, so as I make it I will post my 'Prom Dress Diary' to update where I am and how I've done it....and whether or not I have had a mental breakdown yet!

At the moment I have only just started, which means that I sort of have a design! And today I bought some paper flowers in pink and white from a craft shop [total of £2], which I will probably use to make a wrist corsage along with some fabric flowers I will make later on. I also bought some Dylon fabric dye in 07-powder-pink [for £5.99] which you can use as a permanent pigment to colour clothes in your washing machine at home. I got this just in case i needed it. Right now I also have some beads because I searched through my room as I knew I had some beads somewhere and found these three tubes from ages ago, which just happened to be the perfect colours!

For now, the current total cost is £7.99! Im pretty sure that making my own dress will work out cheaper than buying one and as I go along I'll work out the cost to find out if I am right! But at the moment I reckon for anyone who can or wants to, making your own prom dress will be worthwhile for cost as well as individuality!

Hopefully my dress will end up alright and at least wearable! This should be an interesting 3-ish months!

~Erin~

Denim Jacket

I've never been a big fan of denim jackets at all...but this particular one caught my eye in American Eagle.

First off I think that lightwash denim jackets can be quite nice with the right outfit and really suit certain things especially during the summer with a dress for example and are good as in England we never seem to have warm summers! So when I first saw it, I was unsure of how much I actually liked it....until I turned it around to see an orange/red themed aztec style print design embrodiered on the back, and then I instantly loved it! It was $60 in American Eagle which is about £40, probably quite reasonable. The only bad thing I have found is that the sleeves are a bit too long for me but they are okay, and my arms are kinda short sooo yeah! 

Also, my mum bought me these shoes a little while ago, not too sure where from but apparently they were £5 which is really good! At first I wasn't too sure about them but I wore them last week with this jacket and because of the design on the back they go really well! In the picture they look kinda shiny and the colour doesn't exaclty show but they are matte sort of coraly-red brogues and quite unusual. I was worried they would look like clown shoes but with the right outfit and kept fairly simple they actually looked nice and went well! Reem Reem Reem :)

Handbag Heaven

My first designer handbags RIGHT HERE! :)

The one on the left is a black Ted Baker bag which was bought for me for my birthday just over a week ago. It is patent and I am soooo careful not to scratch it! I really like its boxy shape and the quilted detail it has on the front compartment as well as all the way arounf the back of the bag. The gold accents such as label and zip etc contrast the black perfectly and makes it look especially expensive. My favourite thing by far about it is the pug print fabric lining all of the inside of the bag...I am totally obsessed with pugs and this was the perfect choice! Its an ideal size for day or night, not too big but would fit everything you should need. As it was a present, I dont know how much it cost but it was bought recently so I'm sure Ted Baker retailers are still selling it....I cant wait to use it and definitley recommend it as a staple black bag that will go with any outift and work for any occasion.

The bag on the right is a bottle green Ivanka Trump bag which I bought a couple of weeks ago while we were in America (ARGH!! :D) Its from Century 21 in New York and is worth $175 (around £115 at the moment) but Century 21 were selling it for just under $90 (almost £60) which I think is a pretty good deal! Again, it has gold details which compliment the colour of the bag and this bag has a lot of different compartments as it opens into three main slots and the middle one has a really big gold clasp which looks nice.

As they're my first designer bags that I've got new and probably will be the only ones for quite a while, I'm pretty excited to use them and think they are both LUSH!